Rallycross

Gymkhana superstar, Ken Block, is the very latest driver to announce he will join the new FIA World Rallycross Championship this year. The American star has confirmed he will compete in a minimum of three rounds in 2014.

Block – who will drive a Ford Fiesta as part of the ‘Hoonigan Racing Division’ – will begin his World Championship season in Hell, Norway June 14-15, and will also compete in Loheac, France (September 6-7) and Istanbul, Turkey (October 11-12).

Ken’s announcement follows hot on the heels of news that former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve will compete on the World Rallycross Championship grid this season.

“I’m stoked with how the new liveries for my Ford Fiestas have turned out, as well as the race schedule we’ve been able to put together for 2014,” said Ken. “Once again I’ve been fortunate enough to put together a highly diverse schedule that has me going around the world… and, most interestingly, racing in three of the World Rallycross Championship rounds for the first time ever. I’m pretty sure nobody has a better job than me this year!”Read the rest of this entry »

Organisers of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship have announced a TV deal with broadcaster, British Eurosport. Fans in the UK will be able to catch live coverage for the majority of races in the championship’s inaugural season.

Having broadcast the FIA European Rallycross Championship last year, British Eurosport has now extended its relationship to the newly-formed FIA World Rallycross Championship. All rounds except Finland, Sweden, Canada and France will be shown live on either British Eurosport or British Eurosport 2, with most having two hours of coverage on Sunday afternoons.

Highlights and repeats will be offered, with a season preview and review also planned. The commentary team will continue to be led by the respected ‘Voice of Rallycross’, Andrew Coley.

Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has signed up to compete in the inaugural season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

Villeneuve will drive a 600bhp Peugeot 208s prepared by Albatec Racing. The 42-year-old has committed to a full season with the Dumfries-based team. Last year Albatec ran FIA World Rally Championship star Kris Meeke at Lohéac in France and have tested with GT ace Mika Salo in Finland.

The son of French-Canadian racing legend Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques shot into the spotlight by winning the 1995 IndyCar World Series and Indianapolis 500, prior to crossing the Atlantic to join the F1 grid. Two years later, he was crowned F1 World Champion. Read the rest of this entry »

Lydden Hill Race Circuit is currently undergoing a major facelift before the FIA World Rallycross Championship arrives at the venue this spring (24-25 May).

2014 marks the start of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship, which will boast contenders such as former FIA World Rally Champion Petter Solberg and star names from other areas of motorsport. Lydden Hill will be the second stop on the series’ 12-round calendar, and, as the circuit prepares to play host to the world championship, it is undergoing a comprehensive redevelopment as part of a three-to-five-year plan.

Central to the renovation will be completely new permanent structures, as well as enhanced spectator and competitor facilities. In time new circuit offices will be built, but plans for a new control tower are already advanced. This new building will be completed in time for the circuit’s maiden world championship meeting. Construction has already commenced after the old structure was personally knocked down by Lydden Hill owner Pat Doran, himself a multiple British Rallycross Champion and European front-runner. Read the rest of this entry »

Peugeot has become the second major manufacturer to commit to the inaugural season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

After Ford pledged its official backing to the OlsbergsMSE team’s World RX effort in 2014, Peugeot has joined forces with another leading rallycross outfit, Hansen Motorsport, as it prepares to enter the championship’s debut season. Team Peugeot-Hansen will compete in the Supercar class in all 12 rounds on the calendar – beginning at Montalegre in Portugal in May – with a T16 silhouette version of its 208 model.

Peugeot’s broad involvement in motorsport over the decades has yielded title glory in the FIA World Rally Championship, FIA World Sportscar Championship, Le Mans 24 Hours, Dakar rally and record-breaking results at the Pikes Peak hillclimb in the US. Read the rest of this entry »

Reigning British Touring Car Champion, Andrew Jordan, will compete in the British round of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill this May 24th / 25th.

Last year Jordan beat four past champions to take the coveted British Touring Car Championship crown with Pirtek Racing. And while 24-year-old Jordan’s main focus for the 2014 season will be defending his BTCC title, he will also be joining an impressive grid at the UK round of the World Rallycross Championship, as it comes to Britain for the first time over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

Andrew is no stranger to rallycross, winning the British Rallycross Supercar title in 2007. Since then he has always maintained a strong interest in the sport, and credits his early days competing in rallycross for developing his outstanding levels of car control, particularly in slippery conditions.

Andrew will take the wheel of a turbocharged 600bhp four-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta prepared by the crack Olsbergs MSE team.

Organisers of the FIA World Rallycross Championship have confirmed the addition of RX Lites to the support package for the inaugural 2014 season of the newly-formed championship.

RX Lites are a single-spec formula, with all entrants competing in identical 310bhp, all-wheel-drive, rear-engined machinery, prioritising driver skill and close wheel-to-wheel racing, while aiming to keep costs to a minimum. The cars will be delivered by Swedish rallycross specialists and multiple GRC champions OlsbergsMSE.

Designed to develop the rallycross stars of tomorrow, RX Lites will run at a minimum of five World RX events this year, in the first season of a multi-year agreement.

Organisers, IMG Motorsports and the FIA, have released a 2014 calendar of events for the inaugural running of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

Following the FIA’s decision at September’s World Motorsport Council meeting to approve the formation of the World Championship in 2014, organisers have agreed to a new calendar for next year, which has been approved at a Council meeting in Paris on Wednesday.

The 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship will be run over 12 events including races in Canada, Turkey and Argentina, and at new European Circuits in Belgium and Italy. Read the rest of this entry »